KNOM recently fired up a profile on the social media network Instagram.

If you’re already a member, follow “knomradio” and get a new view of KNOM. Find a variety of images, from goings on at the station to trips staff take through the region, and insight on daily life in Nome. We’re just getting started, so keep us in your feed, and we’ll be adding more and more as the weeks go by. Happy New Year, and happy photo-taking!

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/01/05/join-the-view-on-instagram/feed/0Young broadcastershttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/03/01/young-broadcasters/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/03/01/young-broadcasters/#commentsSun, 02 Mar 2014 02:17:09 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=7316In early February, KNOM was proud to be host to local students for a day of educational projects, introducing the children to broadcasting and interviewing skills…]]>

In early February, KNOM was proud to be host to local students for a day of educational projects, introducing the children to broadcasting and interviewing skills as part of an artist-in-residency program.

The 5th- and 6th-grade students visited our studios from Nome’s Anvil City Science Academy, a local charter school. In small groups, the students spent time behind the microphone, honing their interviewing skills by speaking with notable Nome residents.

The visit involved the coordination of Nome teachers and, of course, a number of KNOM’s staff and volunteers. Pictured above is program director Kelly Brabec, guiding two students through an interview in KNOM’s Studio C. Pictured in the foreground (at right) is student Sarah Wade.

We know that visits like these are not only appreciated by the students and their teachers, but also fundamental to our mission – especially our goals to educate, engage, and inspire our community.

Thank you for helping KNOM encourage a new generation of broadcasters: whether over the airwaves or inside the studio. It makes such a difference.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/03/01/young-broadcasters/feed/0A very strange winter thawhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/03/01/a-very-strange-winter-thaw/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/03/01/a-very-strange-winter-thaw/#commentsSun, 02 Mar 2014 02:00:09 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=7310The streets looked like springtime, and the air was so warm – by Alaskan standards, at least – it might have been mistaken for summer. But…]]>

The streets looked like springtime, and the air was so warm – by Alaskan standards, at least – it might have been mistaken for summer. But the date wasn’t in May or June; it was late January.

On January 27th, Nome broke a high temperature record not just for the day, but for the winter months of December, January, and February combined. The high of 51° F meant that many of our listeners were peeling off warmer jackets and gloves; some hardier Alaskans even seized the opportunity to wear shorts. The record-breaking heat came amid days on end of above-freezing temperatures, making 2014’s January one of the warmest on record.

The warmth meant a rather bizarre disruption to Western Alaska’s winter landscape – and the winter lifestyle that is at the heart of our region’s culture and identity. With temperatures prevailing above freezing, the snow cover that almost always holds until May began to melt and deteriorate. Nome’s roads were blanketed in dangerously slick ice, and sewer drains (like the one pictured) were overwhelmed, in some places, with the runoff from the massive thaw.

The melt was inconvenient, at the least, for many of those we serve. With open “leads” (open water) on the Bering Sea – normally frozen solid at this time of year – our listeners weren’t able to travel across the sea ice (a common winter activity on snowmachine) or set traps (or “pots”) through the ice for crabs, a traditional subsistence food. The lack of snow surely disrupted the plans of many local sled dog mushers, skiers, and snowshoers.

It’s in moments like these that our newscasts and weather forecasts are so important. We’re so grateful to you for making possible our daily efforts to bring our listeners accurate, timely, crucially needed information. Thank you!

In January, all five volunteers were scheduled to take outreach and/or news-gathering trips to some of the villages within KNOM’s listening range. (Thanks to an ongoing sponsorship with a regional airline, this rural travel is free of charge.) Because of the strangely warm weather, some of their travel had to be canceled; some of our communities’ runways were simply too icy to permit landing.

Thankfully, Emily, Anna Rose, and Zach did make it to their destinations. Emily ventured to Savoonga (suh-VOON-guh), Alaska, where she presented at a career fair for high school and middle school students. She then joined Anna Rose in the village of Koyuk for a similar career presentation (top picture). The two traveled with a group of other presenters from Nome, also pictured below.

Zach spent time in Stebbins, Alaska (pictured at bottom), doing research for a follow-up news story on recovery efforts from this past November’s severe fall storms in Western Alaska. Zach’s trip came on the heels of a recent federal declaration designating parts of rural Alaska as natural disaster sites, thus opening up funds (from FEMA) for relief efforts. In Stebbins, the rebuilding work is ongoing and arduous. As Zach recently wrote on our blog, the reconstruction efforts in Stebbins “are not just important, they are vital.”

Thank you for helping our volunteers to engage with our region and to share their stories. (And thank you to Chisana White for the Koyuk photos!)

Repairs are currently underway in Stebbins, Alaska, one of many Western Alaska communities beset by last autumn’s heavy storms.

While Nome has experienced a relatively warm winter this year – with widespread melting and relatively little snow to speak of – winter in our region is, as you might expect, often the opposite.

Here are two examples.

In 2011, only three years ago, our snow cover – and our exposure to heavy winter storms – was abundant. As we wrote in our March 2011 newsletter, a series of blizzards, strong winds (with wind chills down to -70° F!), and heavy snowfall had battered our region, leaving general manager Ric Schmidt to help clear waist-high snow from the side of KNOM’s facilities (pictured). On one particularly stormy day, Ric and then-volunteer Matthew Smith faced 50-miles-per-hour winds to venture out to our AM transmitter site, a few miles outside Nome, to reactivate a failed heating unit, thus keeping our AM signal on the air.

High snow was the story, also, in our January 2004 Static, which reported snow drifts “as high as second-story windows” and showed a photo (above) of Florence Busch – then business manager, now a member of KNOM’s board of directors – examining a 7-foot drift near her house.

In May 2004, in the last throes of that year’s winter, Nome residents observed an ivu (EE-voo), an unusual buildup of massive chunks of ocean ice, some as large as pickup trucks, at the nearby seacoast. The fractured ice blocks, as seen in the photo below, created a 30-foot-high wall of ice.

It’s the world’s longest race of snowmachines – Alaskan parlance for snowmobiles – and last month, it passed through our region.

The Iron Dog Snowmachine Race is an annual focal point for our listeners. The 1,000-mile-plus competition traverses some of Alaska’s most isolated terrain, with a course stretching from Anchorage to Nome to Fairbanks. Racers finish the route in less than a week, driving their “sleds” past the finish line typically the second or third weekend in February.

The race (pictured from 2012) falls in the midst of Alaska’s annual “race season,” the wintertime period of sled dog and snowmachine competitions that are a part of what makes our state so unique. These races tie into the culture, both traditional and contemporary, of rural Alaska, and they’re a celebration of our region: both because they tend to feature local competitors and because their routes wind through many of the small communities we serve.

Thanks to you, we’re proud to report on the fast-paced Iron Dog every year – as well as the long-distance Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Don’t miss our Iditarod coverage this month, right here on knom.org!

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/03/01/the-iron-dogs/feed/0Gone countryhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/02/03/gone-country/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/02/03/gone-country/#commentsTue, 04 Feb 2014 02:48:09 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=6889With each new class of KNOM volunteers comes a new wave of energy and fresh ideas for how to make our mission even better. This year’s…]]>

With each new class of KNOM volunteers comes a new wave of energy and fresh ideas for how to make our mission even better.

In early January, first-year volunteer producer Tara Cicatello (pictured) debuted a new country show on our airwaves, AK Country. The program brings a blend of different types of country music to our listeners every Wednesday afternoon, 2 to 4pm.

As longtime readers of the Static know, KNOM’s radio signal is a primary source of music and entertainment for thousands of people in the isolated stretches of Western Alaska. We play music of a wide variety on a daily basis – with everything from 1950s doo-wop to modern pop and rock – but for many of our listeners, country music is their favorite.

Thanks to your support, we know that Tara’s show will delight countless listeners in our region. Especially during the colder months, even just a few songs – by the likes of Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Tim McGraw, and many more – can make a big difference. Through your generosity, KNOM is both a friend and a trusted media source for thousands.

And speaking of volunteers: we’re currently recruiting for our 2014-2015 volunteer program. Know someone who might be interested? Application materials and more information are online.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/02/03/gone-country/feed/0Here comes race seasonhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/02/03/here-comes-race-season/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/02/03/here-comes-race-season/#commentsTue, 04 Feb 2014 02:40:34 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=6884The later winter months in Western Alaska are made busy, each year, through the sled dog and snowmachine (or snowmobile) competitions that our listeners and community…]]>

The later winter months in Western Alaska are made busy, each year, through the sled dog and snowmachine (or snowmobile) competitions that our listeners and community members follow so intently.

We’re in the thick of race season, which means our entire mission is keeping extra busy.

Last month, news director Laureli Kinneen had the opportunity to fly to southwestern Alaska – just past the southernmost reach of KNOM’s AM signal – to cover an important sled dog race. The Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race is an annual, popular competition that leads mushers (sled dog team leaders) and their teams over 300 miles of terrain, starting and finishing in the Alaskan hub city of Bethel.

In 2014, for the first time in recent memory, among the K300’s competitors was one of KNOM’s own.

Volunteer engineer and dog musher Rolland Trowbridge (pictured) competed in this year’s K300, as part of his goal to prepare for the 2015 running of the longer Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, another race season event that KNOM covers annually.

Winter events like sled dog mushing are so ingrained in the culture of the region we serve, and they’re such an important and unique part of Alaska. Thank you for helping us to bring coverage of events like the K300 to our listeners. It’s greatly appreciated!

Mallott has made history in recent months by becoming the first Alaska Native to declare a candidacy for governor and by receiving the official endorsement of a major political party (Mallott is running as a Democrat). While in Nome this past December, the candidate paid a visit to KNOM studios.

Thanks to your support, KNOM Radio – especially its news department – has built a solid reputation as a trustworthy, professional, and thoroughly non-partisan organization. Our good relationship with the people who make decisions in Alaska, at both the state and local levels, has kept KNOM at the forefront of news and information, especially with regards to the government decisions and legislation that have the greatest potential to affect life in rural Alaska.

Now, as always, KNOM never takes political sides, whether on issues or candidates. Our neutral stance allows us to invite respectful conversations and input from both our listeners and the government leaders that make decisions on our listeners’ behalf.

As a result, we’ve been host to candidates and policy-makers, like Byron Mallott, from all across the political spectrum. This access makes our news reporting better, and we know our listeners appreciate it. Thanks for making it possible!

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/02/03/a-candidates-visit/feed/0Called by namehttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/02/03/called-by-name/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/02/03/called-by-name/#commentsMon, 03 Feb 2014 20:28:16 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=6860This month (in our February newsletter), we share reflections from Father Ross Tozzi: the parish priest of Nome’s St. Joseph Catholic Church, the president of KNOM’s…]]>

This month (in our February newsletter), we share reflections from Father Ross Tozzi: the parish priest of Nome’s St. Joseph Catholic Church, the president of KNOM’s board of directors, and a former KNOM volunteer.

Fr. Ross shares what’s kept him coming back to Nome through the decades:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name: you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1b) In 1987, two years before I ever set foot in Alaska, I heard the voice of the Lord calling me. It was a simple, quiet whisper to, “Join the JVC.” As a result of that call, I left a career in the Army to become a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and wound up as a disc jockey for KNOM in Nome.

“Bring back my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth: all who are called by my name I created for my glory; I formed them, made them.” (Is. 43:6b–7). When my three years as a volunteer came to an end in 1992, I left town thinking I might never return. But each summer, hearing my name called, I returned to volunteer my time and talents. During the summer of my fifth return visit to Nome, Bishop Michael Kaniecki, SJ surprised many with the announcement that I would enter the seminary to begin studies for the priesthood. During summer breaks from the seminary, I was called back to Nome again and again.

On KNOM’s 30th anniversary (in 2001), I was ordained a priest at Saint Joseph Church in a Mass broadcast throughout Western Alaska. I left Nome once again, not knowing if I would ever return. Eight years later, the words of the Hail Mary were on my lips as a small bush airline returned me to Nome as the new pastor of Saint Joseph Church. I am also responsible for 3 additional parishes in Western Alaska, the farthest being 183 miles north of Nome. Even while I am in far away Nome, my parishioners can tune into KNOM and hear my voice calling them by name.